Through The Storm
by Tacpebs
Summary: There's a storm coming in and Joe's sleeping on the job. He's supposed to be fulfilling the request Hoss made to him, but I suppose a rattle snake might give you other ideas first.


**Author's note: **It's just a little one shot I thought of. I hope you enjoy the story.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the characters in this story. I am merely playing with them for a little bit.

**Summary: **There's a storm coming in and Joe's sleeping on the job. He's supposed to be fulfilling the request Hoss made to him, but I suppose a rattle snake might give you other ideas first.

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"Hey Little Joe, that storm's comin' in mighty fast. With Pa and some of the ranch hands gone out to San Francisco, we don't have as much help as we normally would. You mind running out and making sure all the horses are settled in?"

"Sure Hoss."

Little Joe quickly ran out of the house and towards the barn, stopping a moment to take in the dark clouds that were moving in rather wind had already picked up and was quickly blowing loose tree branches and hay around the yard. He moved on into the barn and took in the uneasiness of the horses.

"Whoa, you're alright, it's just a little storm. Well, who let you in?"

He had moved over to one of the more startled horses and was patting him to comfort him when Joe noticed the rattle snake. He looked around for a tool to use, but couldn't find one fast enough as the snake got ready to strike the horse. Joe quickly took his gun out and shot the snake. While managing to save the horse, and moving to collect the remains of the snake, the horse scared and ended up kicking him with its back legs. Little Joe was hit in the ribs and knocked back into a post. His head hit it hard and knocked him out. He crumpled to the ground and lied there, dropping the carcass of the snake upon the ground again.

"Hoss, you take care of those horses yet?"

"I had Little Joe take care of them Adam."

"Didn't think it'd take this long to go out and check on them. I better see what's keeping him. You make sure everything else is alright."

"Alright it Adam."

Adam and Hoss hadn't heard the gun shot as the wind and thunder had blocked the sound from them. They were around the other part of the Ponderosa making sure everything was either tied down or in a position they wouldn't have to search for it later. Adam made his way around towards the barn and looked around, pulling the door behind him as the wind nearly took it off its hinges, as he entered.

"Joe? You still in here?"

He looked around and would've missed seeing his little brother had lightning not struck right then.

"Joe!"

He quickly moved over to his little brother and shook him.

"Joseph! You were supposed to check on the horses, not take a nap."

Though Adam had to know something was wrong if Little Joe believed now was a good time to take a nap. Why not just go back to the house?

"Joe?"

Adam tried to shake his brother again and didn't get any response. He bent down and startled as he took notice of the dead snake. Looking at the snake, it was obvious that it was dead, but he didn't know if the snake had bitten his youngest brother or not. Without the information, it was hard to determine his best course of action. Adam quickly picked up Joe and moved towards the barn doors. The rain had started and he could see Hoss at the house wondering what was taking them so long. Hoss had the front door open and was yelling for Adam to hurry. Adam took the ten seconds to make sure the barn door was closed before running inside to the house.

"What's wrong with short shanks?"

Hoss asked once Adam was inside. He hurriedly closed the door and Adam moved over to place Little Joe on the couch.

"I don't know. He won't wake up. There was a rattler in there as well."

Hoss frowned at this and moved down to Little Joe's feet as Adam was at his head.

"Do you think he got bitten? Joe, can you hear me? Answer me Joe."

Adam and Hoss waited for any kind of response and were grateful when Little Joe moaned and turned his head away from them.

"Come on Joe, wake up. Tell us what happened. Were you bitten by the rattler?"

Joe groaned and slowly opened his uneven eyes and tried to find the reason his sleep was disturbed.

"A-Adam?"

He managed, but rolled over to be sick, only to cry out instead, when his ribs protested at being moved.

"What is it Little Joe? What's wrong?"

"Snake..."

"What?! Is he sayin' he was bitten Adam?"

"Now hold on Hoss."

Adam remarked as he tried to calm his younger brother.

"Come on Joe, tell us what happened. What was that about the snake?"

Joe whined a bit, but managed to turn his head back towards his brothers.

"Don't... don't feel good. Gonna... be... sick."

"Hurry and grab a bucket Hoss."

Hoss got to his feet as fast as he could and returned with the bucket just in time to get it to Adam before Joe lost his breakfast from earlier. Hoss grimaced as he heard and saw Joe being sick, but he didn't turn away. Adam was too busy trying to make sure Joe didn't fall off the couch to get the option, if he wanted, to turn or move away. When Joe was finished, he fell forward, but Adam caught him.

"Whoa there Joe, are you ok now? Can you tell us what happened?"

Joe fell against the couch and moaned again before forcing his oldest brother into focus.

"Snake... snake in the barn. Shot him. Sc-scared the horse. Kicked... kicked me here..."

He pointed to where the horse kicked him.

"... hit my head."

Adam took it all in and gently pulled Joe's face closer to him so he could see his uneven pupils.

"Yeah, looks like you have a concussion if you being sick had anything to do with it too. So the snake didn't bite you? Let me take a look at your side."

Hoss moved over to help roll Little Joe towards the back of the couch while Adam pulled up his shirt to check the damage. They could see the bruising before they heard Joe moan in pain again. Adam tried as gently as he could to see if any of the ribs were broken, which there were some, however Little Joe still jerked and cried out in pain. He whined a little more, but tried to keep it in.

"I'm sorry Little Joe, just a little longer. Hold him tight Hoss."

Hoss nodded his head and held Joe a little tighter as Adam moved his hand gently down further around the purple area.

"Stop! Please... please Adam!"

Adam moved his hand from the bruise and nodded for Hoss to let Little Joe go.

"We're gonna have to wrap your ribs Little Joe."

Little Joe moaned and tried to sit up, but that wasn't going to happen any time soon. Adam stood up and went to get the supplies he'd need to get started on taking care of Little Joe.

"I sure was scared there short shanks. With Adam carrying you like that, I didn't know what happened. I'm sorry you got hurt out in the barn. If I had done what Adam asked me in the first place, instead of askin' you to do it, you probably wouldn't be in this mess. I'm real sorry little brother."

Little Joe wanted to turn and look at his older brother, but it hurt too much and he wanted to let Hoss know. Joe reached his hand out in order to grab Hoss' hand. Hoss held onto it until Adam returned with the supplies.

"Alright Joe, you're gonna have to sit up. Hoss you mind helping him?"

It took all of 30 minutes to get the deed done as most the time was spent allowing Joe to be sick or to get used to the pain of being wrapped before they left him to his thoughts once they took him up to bed.

"Thankfully the snake didn't bite him and there wasn't any blood from his head wound, but we're gonna need to check on him every two hours. Make sure he's alright."

Adam explained to Hoss. Hoss merely nodded his head in understanding and went to sit with his little brother. The storm outside wasn't forgotten as it went on, but Adam spent his time sitting with Little Joe as well and waking him up every two hours. Joe was coherent enough and the brothers allowed him to sleep again. At one point Hoss went to find some medicine Joe could take for the pain, but couldn't find any. He vowed to run out to Doc Martin when the storm let up.

"Hoss? Adam? Why don't the two of you go on to bed? It can't be comfortable sitting there in those chairs. I'm not going any where and I've stopped being sick."

"I suppose you don't really need both of us here. Why don't you go and get something to eat Hoss?"

"I'm alright Adam. You can go if you need to."

"Why don't the both of you go. I know how to call if I need anything. I promise."

Adam and Hoss both looked at Joe and sighed.

"I suppose you're right. You make sure to call if you need anything."

"I will Adam."

Hoss stood to his feet and headed to the kitchen. Hop Sing had gone with their father to provide good meals, but he had made sure to leave a few things for the boys with hope that Hoss wouldn't eat everything in one setting. Hoss managed to find the cornbread and stirred up some stew for him and his brothers to eat. He took some up to Little Joe and Adam and the three of them ate what they could. For Little Joe that wasn't much, but that was to be expected.

"Well, reckon I'll go get some shut eye. Not sure when this storm's gonna blow over, but here's hoping it's over in the morning. Night you too."

"Good night Hoss."

"Night Hoss."

Hoss took the plates back down to the kitchen and out the back door, holding the plates in the rain for the rain to rinse them off. After drying them, he put them away and headed back up the stairs to go to bed. Adam took one last look at his little brother before sighing. He hated when any of his family got hurt, especially Little Joe, and he couldn't do anything to ease the pain. He sighed again and he took in the pain lines on his youngest brother's face before he pulled up the covers over him and then left the room to head to his own room. Adam wasn't quite tired yet, so he figured he'd read a book for a little while. He must have dozed off because the next thing he knew he heard birds chirping.

"Oh, I guess I was more tired than I thought."

Adam made his way to Little Joe's room and saw that he was still asleep. Using that time to do his usual morning routine, he noticed that Hoss's horse wasn't in the barn. He frowned for a moment wondering what might have happened, but shrugged it away. He took in the fact that there wasn't much damage done in the storm last night, from what he could see, and was very thankful for that.

"Morning Adam!"

"Hoss! Where have you been?"

"Went out to see Doc Martin. Got some medicine for Little Joe's pain."

Adam nodded and they both went up to check on Joe. Adam hurriedly got the medicine set up for Joe after seeing the pain he was clearly in.

"Here Joe, drink this."

Joe wasn't sure he could open his mouth without wanting to bring dinner from last night back up, but he forced himself to try. He managed to get most of it down, but it was truly a fight. He had to be thankful that whatever the medicine was, there was a bit of sedative it too.

"Thanks."

He mumbled before falling asleep minutes later.

"That should keep him for a while. We still have chores to do and I need to finish making sure there wasn't much damaged done last night."

Hoss nodded at Adam's comment and the two of them set out to run the ranch. After what they could manage by lunch time, they were starved and Joe was still out. Seeing as they hadn't had breakfast, Hoss was a little worried, but Adam figured he needed the rest more.

"Sure hope Pa doesn't have to go through that storm on the way back."

"You said it."

The two of them ate what they could and continued to check on Little Joe. After four weeks, Little Joe started feeling better, so they left him to his own devices.

"Thanks for taking care of me you guys."

"No problem Joe. It's what family's for."

Hoss smiled and nodded his agreement to Adam's statement before the three of them kicked their horses into a trot, taking off to do their chores.

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**Thanks for reading! Leave a review if you so desire. Until next time...**


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